When the Academy Awards nominations were announced yesterday, some were a tad surprised to see that Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises was completely shut out of the race. The superhero movie that did make the cut, however, is Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, which is nominated for the Best Visual Effects Oscar. Industrial Light & Magic has released a video that’s basically a “best of” for the film’s visual effects, and it quickly shows how some of the film’s visual trickery was pulled off. This is likely the video that was shown to Academy voters when they were considering the contenders in the Best Visual Effects category, and it’s a neat compilation of how some of the film’s more impressive visuals were put together.

Hit the jump to watch the video. The 85th Academy Awards will be held on February 24th.